1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical field of an apparatus and method for setting or controlling a connection mode among devices in a peer-to-peer (P2P) type contents data (or stream data) distribution system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In recent years, attention is being paid to a peer-to-peer type contents data distribution system in a communication network such as the Internet. The contents data distribution system transmits/receives stream-distributed contents data among nodes as clients in a manner different from a client-server type contents data distribution system.
As a system of this kind, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a stream data distribution system. In the system, each node has topology information for recognizing a network connection relation. Each node is connected to a node on the upper stream (at a higher hierarchical level) recognized from the topology information, receives stream data transmitted from the upstream node, and transfers (relays) the stream data to a node on the downstream (at a lower hierarchical level). Patent Document 1; Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-169089